


Improper Management of Fandoms

by catalyticGenesis



Series: Skaian Dreamers [6]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Complacency of the Learned, Gen, Humanstuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-16 00:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1324693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catalyticGenesis/pseuds/catalyticGenesis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Complacency of the Learned fandom was bordering on ridiculous, and no one knew quite how to deal with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Improper Management of Fandoms

The Complacency of the Learned fandom was bordering on ridiculous. The work itself had its own website, a few blogs, and its own store. The first two books were published, with the third coming out in a few months. Probably about a million people actively read it, with half the amount reading the comic. No one was quite sure, the statistics page had just broken and it hadn’t been fixed yet. The fandom was huge, with art, fanfiction, cosplay, voice-acting, and everything else. 

The whole operation was run by three people. 

Their identities were kept secret, because no one needed to know the entire thing was run by teenagers. 

Rose Lalonde wrote

Roxy Lalonde drew

And Calliope English fandom-wrangled.

The three of them were usually referred to by their screen names: Jaspers, Mutie, and Cal. No one knew any personal details about anyone, no one knew how they managed everything, and no one knew who they were.

There was a time, however, when there were only two people running it, and they hadn’t the slightest clue on how to deal with the fandom. 

They had one of the least respectful fandoms out there. Both Rose and Roxy had special folders set up for anon hate, they had written far too many ‘please excuse the idiots that our fandom consists of, we’re pretty sure they’re not trying to be offensive’ notes, far too much untagged tentacle porn, and they had been banned from over twenty conventions. In short, they needed help.

That help came in the form of one particularly nervous student at Skaia High.

She and her brother were thrown into enrollment because their father had just become the principal of the school. On their first day, each of them was assigned a friend.

Roxy didn’t know friends could be assigned, but they apparently could be. She was assigned to be Calliope English’s friend, so she was.  
By the end of the first day, they had struck up a tentative friendship.

By the end of the first week, they were good friends. 

The first hint of anything bigger came in their art class. Their instruction was to draw characters from a comic, novel, or movie in their own style.

Calliope, being a huge fan of CotL, chose to draw the disciples. Roxy, being the official artist of CotL, chose to draw the disciples.

“Wow, Callie, that’s some quality art you’ve got there. I didn’t know you liked CotL,” Roxy said, leaning over to get a better look at the drawing.

Calliope smiled. “Thanks, I practice a lot. So, by your comment, I’m going to assume you enjoy the story as well?”

“Hell yeah, it’s the best out there. You got your wizards, you got your magic, and you got your eldritch horrors, what else could you need?”

“I can’t think of anything the series itself is lacking, though I can think of many things the fandom happens to be lacking. Including basic manners.”

“Ah, yes. The ever-accursed fandom. Who would have thought we’d be kicked out of twenty-eight cons? It was pretty fun, at least until we got kicked out and apologies had to be made.”

“Yes, those were some impressive disasters. Also, may I see what you drew? I’m assuming it’s something from CotL, am I correct?”  
Calliope leaned over to see Roxy’s drawing.

“Yeah, you can see it. It’s not like it’s something top-secret and spoiler filled. At least, I’m pretty sure it’s not something top-secret and spoiler filled.”

“Your art is breathtakingly amazing! And so close to the official artist’s style. How do you do it?”

“Oh, it’s not that close. Most people just seem to think it is. It’s just vaguely similar, and I use similar techniques.” Roxy looked away, frowning. 

Calliope frowned. Something didn’t seem quite right about her story. “Okay, that seems perfectly valid. Anyways, what’s your username? My username is Cal, on each and every site related.”

“I don’t go on any of the websites to post anything. People would only accuse me of stealing art, so why bother?” Roxy rolled her eyes, it wasn’t her fault her art style was so similar. “But I’ve heard of you, most of the fandom defers to you as their leader.”

“Oh, yes, that. Well, I have some skill in organizing people, and I do happen to be in a position of vague authority.” As she watched Roxy draw, she noticed her scribbling a symbol in the bottom corner of the picture. It looked familiar, so Calliope drew a quick sketch of it and tucked it away to look up later. 

By the end of the day, Calliope had a few more things to look up. The deadline for the next page of the comic was today, and she had noticed Roxy scribbling away furiously in her sketchbook. She would check if the page matched up to what the sketches had been. She had almost signed some of her art ‘vodka muti-’. The last part had been erased before she could check.

The symbol was featured in every one of Mutie’s drawings. The new page matched up perfectly to Roxy’s sketchbook. And it turns out ‘Mutie’ was just a shortened form of ‘Vodka Mutini’.

Roxy was the official artist for CotL. 

uranianUmbra [UU] began pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG]

UU: hello there, dear.

UU: how are yoU doing tonight?

TG: oh hay there callie

TG: im doin kay

TG: busy as hell

TG: but still okay

UU: and what might yoU be doing?

TG: oh yknow art

TG: i have a crowd of crazy fans trying to get me drawings faster

UU: does this particUlar groUp of fans happen to be banned from nearly twenty-eight conventions?

TG: oh hell no

UU: or possibly have a fandom lacking in even the most basic of manners?

TG: why oh why did you have to do your research

UU: yoU’re not denying any of it?

TG: why bother

TG: its ptretty clear youve got your mind set that i am

UU: woUld i be correct to assUme yoU’re mUtie?

TG: yeah youd be correct

UU: and who woUld jaspers happen to be?

TG: my lil sis

UU: she’s how old again? thirteen? 

TG: yupp

UU: how on earth do yoU two rUn this by yoUrselves? 

TG: evidently not very well

TG: we do have a little team of experts

TG: mostly roses friends

UU: who are they? i know many of the so-called ‘experts’ in the fandom.

TG: as our offical team

TG: weve got

TG: SunshineAndRainbows, CatnipAndsSugarcubes, spider8ite as the editor, and psiioniic as tech support

TG: and of corse weve got our resident peacekeepers

TG: WindySkiesAndPhantoms and GalaxiesAndStarscapes

TG: and my idiot brothers IronyAndShittySwords and IronyAndPointyShades

UU: oh, i do recognize sUnshineandrainbows and catnipandsUgarcUbes, bUt i can’t remember ever hearing of psiioniic or spider8ite. i see windyskiesandphantoms and galaxiesandstarscapes aroUnd, UsUally yelling at people to calm down. i had no idea they were actUal staff members. and as for yoUr brothers, theyre actUally in charge of stUff?

TG: makes perfect sense. psiioniic is pretty far under the radar. so far you need a fish-finder thingy they use on boats to see even the top of his head

TG: my metaphor was ruined by my incomplete vocabulary

TG: damn

TG: and spider8ite 

TG: well to be honest

TG: im surprised you havent herd of her

TG: shes the bitchy one yelling at everyone to calm the heck down

UU: i UsUally stay oUt of the forUm games, which may explain that.

TG: no shes litereally everywhere yelling at people

UU: okay then.

TG: and my brothers shouldnt be ofofical staff members cause theyre idiots

TG: bvut theyre anyways so whatre u gonna do boat it

UU: yoUr spelling is getting progressively worse. i think yoU need some sleep.

TG: what no im not tired t all 

TG: *at

TG: im perfectyl fine and my spwlling snt bad at all

TG: *perfeclty 

TG: sperlling

TG: inst

TG: oh just fcku it

TG: *fcuk

uranianUmbra [UU] ceased pestering tipsyGnostalgic [TG]

 

“Hey, Callie,” Roxy greeted her friend as they got to homeroom. “So you found out my oh-so-big secret last night. Good job. But anyways, I spent a while checking out what you do on there, and let me be the first to say, amazing job on keeping the fandom vaguely in check. There’s only one way I think they’d listen to you more.”

“Oh, good morning, Roxy. Thank you for the compliments on my organizing skill, and let me ask. In what ways do you think I could manage the fandom better?”

Roxy smiled. “If you had an official title and/or position, duh! And, since you don’t, let me give you one.” She paused, considering the wording for a second. “I dub thee Official Fandom Wrangler to the kingdom of Complacency of the Learned.” 

Calliope tilted her head, not quite grasping what she had been appointed as.

“Look, it means you do all the same shit you did before, you just have more authority than usual. I even made a fancy badge that you’re not allowed to wear in public. We’re a highly anonymous society. But, come to my house afterschool. We’re having a CotL meetup, with all the people who work on it. You’re included now.”

“Um, okay, but do you really think I should be the official ‘Fandom Wrangler’? I mean, I don’t do a very good job ordinarily, and I don’t know how I’ll manage now…” she trailed off. 

“Don’t worry. It’ll be straightened out afterschool.”

~

Calliope knocked on the huge door, not expecting it so swing open when she did. There was a note on the stairway, written in bright pink.

callie! were all downstairs just head down the stiars. *stairs

Yes, there were noises coming from downstairs, though mainly voices she didn’t recognize. She slowly descended the stairs, nervously standing at the bottom. 

“Callie! You’re here! We’ve been patiently waiting for the new fandom wrangler to arrive.” Roxy smiled, gesturing for Calliope to come sit next to her. 

“Well, I guess it’s time for introductions. Everyone now has an official title, and everyone has a screen name. First, of course, we’ve got me, Mutie, the artist. Next to me is Rose, Jaspers, the author. Say hi, Rose.”

“Hi, Rose.” The girl in question rolled her eyes, clearly having gone through this many times.

“This is Calliope, Cal, the official Fandom Wrangler. Next to her is Sollux, psiioniic, our Tech Support.”

Sollux waved halfheartedly, barely lifting his hand.

“Next to Sollux we’ve got Kanaya Maryam, SunshineAndRainbows, our Seamstress on Deck. Next to her is Nepeta Leijon, CatnipAndSugarcubes, our resident fanfic expert. The two not-cool kids next to them are Dave and Dirk Strider, IronyAndShittySwords and IronyAndPointyShades, our resident whatever the hell they are. Oh, yeah, they do their own webcomic too, Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff. Next to them are our peacekeepers, which basically make them your minions. John and Jade Crocker, WindySkiesAndPhantoms and GalaxiesAndStarscapes. And next to Rose is Vriska Serket, the editor, who used to go by Spider8ite, but now just goes by Mindfang due to incidents we won’t talk about. She’s also the head moderator, which makes her in charge of everyone but me, Rose, and Callie. Got it, everyone acquainted?”

Everyone shrugged, they were vaguely acquainted. 

For reasons no one could quite figure out, the CotL fandom seemed to run a lot more smoothly after that. It might have been the introduction of a new admin, or maybe the angry peacekeepers. Maybe it was the organization that came with new positions, or maybe, maybe it was because people finally bothered to make friends with their coworkers. Or maybe not, and it was all just a weird shared hallucination. You never know.

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't meant to be particularly funny or anything else, just to introduce a new idea.  
> Aside from that, I've got a horrible writers block and will have a lot of make-up work to do, so you might not see anything for a while.


End file.
